Twilight of the Dead
by kudos93
Summary: AU,OOC,All human. Zombies have driven humankind to the brink of extinction. Edward and Bella meet in Seattle one of the few places where humans are still alive. Zombies try to eat them and they kind of love each other...rated for gore,future lemons&lang.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

**A/N: Okay this is a completely random thing that I thought of. The only thing that I'm more obsessed with than Twilight is Zombies, and I think that they deserve some credit. So yeah…**

Prologue

I staggered forward, attempting to ignore the pain in my leg. I adjusted the two hundred pounds that was slung haphazardly over my back. The moaning encroached on me from all directions now, they had me cornered. Occasionally I would see one of their staggering shapes among the trees, looming in the fog.

Time ran short. Soon their silhouettes littered the horizon. Although even now, as I dutifully marched to my death to facing what so many others already had, I knew that I would not put Edward down. If I could reach the knife in my shoe, or the gun in his belt, there was an infinitely slim chance that I could make it the mile to the city. Every second that I carried him my leg hurt more and I ran out of chances to make my move. I f I left now there was even a chance that Carlisle was still alive, he could fix my leg and I would live to fight another day. But even as I planned and schemed, I knew that I wouldn't enact upon it. My last seconds with Edward, however gruesome, were nothing that I would trade for life.

The faces of the horrible monsters were becoming visible. The bitten and scared visages, green with putrescence and death, contorted in rage and hunger. Some of them seemed somewhat familiar and I feared for the city that I had once called my home. These horrors could very well be the last remnants of the last people on earth. A grand tradition of life would die with me and Edward.

They were the close now, and they reached out for us grabbing at me. I shoved one man's shoulder in a futile attempt to keep his snapping jaws away. My last ounce of energy let me run a few steps, breaking away from the five or six of them that had surrounded us.

However, Edward's superior size overpowered me and after a dozen or so steps I tipped into the dirt, and a sickening crack resounded through the atmosphere already thick with moans. I could feel Edward's weight on my back, pushing me into the dirt. But it seemed all that distracted me from the scent of blood, undoubtedly floating up from my shin. I remember the weight evaporating from my back before I lost contact with the living.

Chapter 1

BPOV:

"At attention newbies!" I snapped by back straighter, my eyes boring into the wet cement ahead of me. I shriek followed by a gunshot permeated the atmosphere. "Welcome to hell" The sergeant informed our small squadron. There were eight of us in all, and we were all leaving the city for the first time since it happened.

Fresh out of boot camp, our only choice was to serve our year with the army. The fear of fighting overseas, however, was no longer an option. The fight against the undead would take place in what used to be my backyard.

I shivered at the thought of the mangled and grotesque bodies that I would soon be responsible for killing. I'd fallen asleep to their shrieks for years, and since they'd killed my father, I'd been waiting for my chance to kill them.

"Tonight you're taking the bone cruncher" he gestured proudly towards an RV/ tank cross that was parked behind us, "and heading to the King Soopers 14 miles west of city limits on highway 34, you're responsible for canned foods, water, and medicines tonight. Any alcohol or tobacco and you will be excommunicated from the city after your return, any questions."

Seeing as this was a statement, none of us raised our hands. I looked around at the other young faces more carefully. To my right, there was a pale faced boy, whose rifle wasn't shut correctly. His knees were visibly shaking beneath the army issued camouflage, but he wore an overconfident smirk. Next to him stood a girl, who showed the same symptoms of incompetent cockiness used to cover complete terror. She had the nerve to wear earrings on the mission.

The other five in our group were all strikingly similar in presentation; I could only describe them as bad ass. The first one in the line up was a boy, who must've stood about six foot five; his muscles were visible through the mandatory seven layers of canvas. Every inch of him was hard and rough, he was actually carrying one of those chains with the spiked ball on the end. I flinched when I noticed that all of the steel spikes were tipped with crimson.

A blonde beauty was next, but in context I wouldn't have called her anything but fierce. She was nothing less than six feet, what would have been called model material in an earlier time. Two pistols hooked into her belt, and I noticed that they were both cocked and ready to go.

A small pixie girl was at her side. I would have discarded her fighting skills if it weren't for the dozens of throwing knives in her belt. They glinted ominously in the dim light, reflecting off of the ammunition draped about her slight frame. Her black spiky hair was tied up by a folded bandana across her forehead, 6 more throwing knives were seated above her ear.

Further down the line stood another boy, not as tall and muscular as the other one, but frightening in his own right. Multiple scars ran along his neck, rising white and horrible from the tan skin. An actual bazooka launcher hung down from his ammo belt, and there were four bazookas stuffed into one of his multiple pockets. A grimace bared his teeth as he looked straight ahead.

The other end of the line, I found most impressive. The boy was shorter than the blonde one, but slightly brawnier. His bronze colored hair contrasted starkly with the green hues in his uniform and eyes. A vision of beauty, he carried more rounds than the rest of us combined, and had a string of hand grenades cascading down to his knee. His perfect lips were set into a grimace, a fire in his expression.

The sergeant saluted us, looking pitifully towards my end of the line, before waving us towards the vehicle. I knew what that look meant. First Night was all newbs for a reason, it weeded out the pansies from the survivors. On average, one out of every four soldiers died on their first night out. That meant I was fighting earring girl for my spot in the world of the living, rifle boy was a goner.

We herded onto the vehicle. The inside was reminiscent of a security room. There were multiple screens on the walls that were attached to the many Gatling guns that protruded from the vehicle. There were six seats total, five along the wall and one for the driver. We all immediately felt the tension of the seating arrangements and the atmosphere thickened. There were six people in every squadron, if six of us were lucky enough to make it through tonight, the bone crusher would become home for eight hours of every day. Funny how we weren't worried about there being too many people for the vehicle.

The five warriors distributed themselves about the cabin with an authority that I would never possess. This left me and the two lurches standing by the door. The other two dead people walking had the nerve to be flirting at a time like this and they sat down at the last gun together, on top of each other really.

"Hey, did you used to live around here?" The bronze haired god asked as he closed the door behind me. The three layers of 2 inch thick stainless steel plating clicked shut and I felt a false sense of security.

"Ya actually" I knelt down on the floor beside the driver's seat, manning the gun that the driver would have been in control of. I wasn't going to sit and do nothing.

"Could you direct me, I'm pretty new. My friends and I drove in from Portland last week." I was shocked to say the least, I hadn't heard of anyone not from Seattle in at least four years, I thought everyone else was dead.

"Yeah…"

"Edward" I kept my eyes on the windshield, trying to focus on the electrically charged wires that were strung about three feet in front of it.

"Edward, are you sure you just don't want me to drive, I know exactly where we're going" I offered. I remember going grocery shopping with my parents at the exact super market that we were going to.

"Trust me, you want Edward to drive" The pixie-girl said from the canon closest to the front.

"Are you sure? I mean I know the area really well…" She was staring at me with incredulity.

"Edward got six people here perfectly safe with 2 weeks of food in a convertible hummer. You want Edward to drive." I didn't respond.

"Thank you for embarrassing me Alice" Edward was attempting to be modest but I could see the smirk on his face.

"Okay, turn right as soon as you leave the gate." He abruptly stopped joking with his sister and nodded, driving the large vehicle forward. The three gates took surprisingly long to get through, as swarms we had to pass clearance with every one. I never understood how the security at the gates was so bizarrely overdone, but one whole side of the city was only protected by water.

The gates finally opened, and I immediately wished that they would just close me back up again. The zombies that had crowded around the exit hurled themselves at us. Many of them were killed by the electric fence in front of the windshield but some of them managed to reach through. I shot them quickly as Edward hit the gas, and the car lurched forward.

I tried not to think about the squish and crunch sound that the bodies made as the belt tires ran over them.

It got easier once we were away from the city. The creatures followed the scent of people and crowded around the gates. They all were caught in the fences eventually.

I directed Edward through the semi-deserted town. All of us shot down the occasional zombie as it approached the truck. Their shrieks and squeals still shook me, although I knew that they would eat me if they had the chance. At one point Edward had to take the gun from me to shoot a young demon child that had managed to get onto the hood of the car.

I expected him to scoff at me but instead a look of sympathy crossed his chiseled features. I noticed that the blonde girl wouldn't shoot children either.

The supermarket quickly came up on our right, and he pulled up to the front doors of the building. We all took a minute to load our guns. Alice took three knives into her hand and Edward put his finger through the pin on a grenade. The butcher's knife stored in my sleeve had a new weight as we opened the doors and stepped out into the world. It was my first time outside of the fences in 5 years.

The burly guy shut the doors behind us, latching the outside one. We didn't want a nasty surprise waiting for us when we returned, hopefully laden with foodstuffs.

Our small congregation slunk through the automatic door of the supermarket. I had no idea how it still worked, and however convenient it was, it surely meant death. The door would open for the undead too. They were probably swarming the place.

The burly one and the blonde girl immediately left together, he was walking backwards, covering her back. They headed towards the canned food. The two incompetents went towards the pharmacy, which was conveniently located across the hall from the tobacco products, I hoped that they weren't stupid enough to be going for cigarettes. Alice and the blonde boy walked towards the bottled drinks aisle. I noticed that the boy had his bazooka launcher loaded.

This left me and Edward standing alone at the front of the store. We walked cautiously towards the produce section. The fruits that were left on display oftentimes dried naturally, preserving them. Edward pulled a large canvas bag out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"Fill this up with as much stuff as will fit, I'll cover you" I had no reason to contest his leadership, he was obviously a lot more skilled at this than I was. We began moving through the wooden stands, while I picked up all of the prune looking shapes, luckily there were no holes in the roof, so the fruits had dried without rotting.

I tried not to let it show how terrified I was. The linoleum floor was covered in smears of blood and the occasional tooth or finger. I stayed as far away as possible from the bases of the fruit displays, there was about a foot of crawlspace beneath them and I was horrified that an undead arm would spring from the abyss and grab me.

Shockingly, nothing attacked me and I filled the fifty bag with what I estimated to be fifty pounds of dried fruit. I could barely lift it and I could feel my face purpling with effort as I attempted to drag it towards the front. Edward sighed and took it from me, swinging it over his shoulder as if it weighed five pounds instead of fifty. He held a revolver in his other hand.

The group was assembled at the front, waiting for us. The two boys, excluding the goner, were holding the ends of a tarp that was filled with food and water, there was also a plastic bag that I assumed contained a small amount of medicine.

"Let's go" Edward led the way still carrying his immense amount of food. The rest of them followed. We began to file out of the store, the automatic doors opened for us. Just as I left the building I heard a bloodcurdling scream erupt from the earring wearing girl. It was followed by a grunt and the sickening smell of blood. We'd been attacked.

I whipped around just in time to see the girl fall to the ground while seizing and bleeding profusely from her neck. The zombie that had attacked had turned to the incompetent boy, who was attempting to shoot him but of course his gun was not properly put together. The undead woman bit into his hand, moaning with a satisfied expression on her dead face when his finger came off into her mouth.

I felt the vomit well up in the back of my throat as I witnessed the horror. Alice also looked extremely green, but the blonde girl kept her composure, shooting all three of the victims in the head. The blood continued to flow liberally out of our recent accomplices bodies.

The other girls and I loaded onto the vehicle, and I took the seat where the two dead people once sat. The screen showed me the doors of the supermarket, where blood was leaking out onto the cement. I felt the rig move forward, and I aimed at the doors of the awful building, shooting the glass.

I looked around the cabin, taking in the sights of my new squadron.

**A/N: Sooo…what'd you think. Don't worry Bella will learn everyone's name's next chapter. I just didn't think it would go with the gloom and doom theme if they all just got onto the bad ass zombie killer tank and were like "What's your name?" I just thought that it would be kind of stupid…**

**soooo…I really want to continue this. As much as it might disgust you guys, I really enjoyed writing the gore and killing nameless characters in bloody ways. Review to tell me to continue!**

**If you review I will let you hug zombie killer Edward. **


	2. Chapter 2

AN: This chapter is fully a tribute to Natalie RB

**AN: This chapter is fully a tribute to Natalie RB! You rock my socks off. Actually earring girl and the other dude were meant to be Jessica and Mike but I figured that if she didn't learn the main characters' names then she couldn't learn the minor characters that would die in a couple pages. I love how your evil mind thinks and your review made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Thanx a million! **

**Oh yeah, and I forgot a disclaimer last chapter, I don't own Twilight.**

**On with the zombies…**

Chapter 2

BPOV:

The venture through the gate-crowding herd of undead definitely wasn't as exciting the second time. The city welcomed us home, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of sick pride that I was one of the six survivors.

Edward wound his way through the nearly deserted streets to the base. The population of Seattle seemed to be steadily thinning, even though the mayor told us otherwise. We all knew that he was fudging the numbers, between disease and zombie attacks; there were less people than dogs.

Once in the garage, we all exited the vehicle, apprehensive of what would happen next. No one was told what would happen to you if you survived your first trip. We had been trained all for that one night, not allowed to assume that we'd live another day.

"I see you're missing Private Stanley and Newton" The sergeant that had given us our assignment was now gesturing towards our shorter line up.

"There were casualties Sir" The blonde girl spoke, never moving her eyes from the wet cement in front of her.

"There always are." He said somewhat sadly. "Stack your findings, you have three minutes" He turned and walked towards the corner of the room where he turned towards us and watched.

We formed a kind of line, and handed down the various items. We had done better than I had initially thought. The stack ended up being almost as tall as Alice. It seemed that multiple trips to the vehicle had been made. I now wished that Newton and Stanley had gone out to the car with the first load.

"Decent." The sergeant picked up a can and scanned the label and expiration date before setting it back onto the pile. "Carry this stuff to storage and bring the medicines to the infirmary. You will then report to the barracks and find your bunk assignments."

The sergeant then strode out of the room, leaving us to work. The boys did the heavy lifting, leaving us girls with the multiple bags of medicines. There were many more than I had originally thought and I felt a twinge of guilt attack my stomach as I thought of the price of these particular items.

The infirmary was just down the dimly lit hallway from the garage. I knocked on the door and entered when I heard "Come in". I smiled at Carlisle as I pushed open the door.

"Oh, Hello Bella! Back from your first raid? Good job!" Carlisle Cullen was officially the last graduate from Harvard Medical School. Just before the dean handed the diploma to Amelia Dane, a zombie crashed the graduation party. The international flights were all immediately cancelled, so Carlisle came out to Seattle, where his cousin lived. However when he got out here, the undead had spread and the city was on lockdown. After proving that he was not in fact infected he was admitted. That was back when the army actually had standards as to who they were accepting and Carlisle's 20/50 vision kept him from being dragged into the raids like the rest of the population under thirty. The fact that he was completely gorgeous, despite his Clark Kent glasses, seems insignificant with the number of times he's patched me up.

"Yeah" I was not in the mood to chat, and with my luck I'd probably be back to talk to him later. I could never seem to stay on my feet and not bloody.

"I'll give some of these to Esme…We might actually need more than one shelf for once. All of the others seem to go for food and never hit the pharmacy…" He trailed off and began bustling around the small semi-clean room. It was actually the only place that wasn't completely covered in dirt anywhere in Seattle.

He happily settled into organizing the multitude of ointments and bottles, and the three of us took it as our cue to leave. Edward and the other two boys were waiting outside and we began our walk to the "barracks". In all actuality they were an old holiday inn. It was the hotel closest to the fence that enclosed the city from two sides. If we were ever needed we could always be available.

In the beginning when there were plenty of troops to be called upon, every group of six soldiers got their own room in the hotel. Now the bottom two floors were storage and every squadron was allotted two connecting hotel rooms, and that idiot of a mayor was adamant about our increasing population.

Edward pulled a key out of his pocket and slipped it into the lock on the door. We all filed in after him. The connecting door between the rooms was already open and both generic living spaces were visible from here. The walls were covered in tan wallpaper that coordinated with the carpet. The curtains, lampshades, and bedspreads were all the same dull olive shade. The room that we had entered into had one king sized bed and the adjoining one had two queens. I idly wondered how that was going to work out, but at this point didn't really care.

Once we had all entered the room, Alice turned around and locked the door behind us. Again the click of the tumblers made me feel safe. Locks were one of the few things that the rotting bodies couldn't get through. Outside the city gates, there were many houses with shattered and bloody windows, while their locked doors are still in tact.

The windows in both of the rooms were covered in thick steel shutters and padded with small dusty remnants of what looked like bath towels, no doubt to keep out the stench.

"Hey um, can I talk to everybody for a minute?" I turned around to see Alice who addressed us. She had removed her utility belt, and her headband. She looked much frailer without the dozens of knives draped around her. The others nodded and she walked over to the king sized bed and perched on the edge. The blonde boy sat next to her and put his arm over her shoulder; she reached around his waist and put her head on his shoulder before continuing.

"Um, I know that today was tough and we don't really know what's going to happen tomorrow, but I have a feeling that we'll be okay. I don't mean to curse our luck, but I really have a good feeling about this group. I mean five of us have stuck together for four years, fighting our way through more zombies than inhabit the greater Seattle area. I mean I was only fourteen when they came and now look at us. And now we have a new person to protect…" Alice looked at me.

"Bella" I realized that I didn't even know the names of three of the people in this room. Three of the people that I would most likely spend the rest of my life with, three people that I expected to save my life, three people whose lives that I would save, and I didn't even know their names.

"Bella, I like you. I have a good feeling about you. I can see that you'll get along with us just fine." She smiled rather weakly. I guess that I wasn't the only one that this day took a lot out of. As I looked around the circle at my new surrogate family, I noticed how truly exhausted we all looked. We'd only been official raiders for four hours. I have no idea how we'd ever last through our first eight hour shift.

"Guys, I don't know about you but I'm whipped. I say that we pick beds and take a nap. We have twenty four hours before we have to report to the garage, I say that we relax as much as we possibly can." The big guy spoke up, his arm now draped around the blonde girl's waist.

"Okay, Jazzy and I'll take one of the queens." Alice stood up and made an effort to help the blonde boy (apparently Jazzy, Jasper maybe?) to his feet. We could all see that this was impossible but he let her believe that she was doing something. The headed off to the other room.

"Ed? Do you want the king, because this room kind of creeps me out, closer to the fence you know?" Emmett explained shyly. I never expected him to be the scardey type, ah well all the more adrenaline to annihilate with.

"Yeah, I like the king. Rose, you going with Emmett right?" The blonde girl nodded and they followed Alice and Jasper (?)'s footsteps through the door. Then, Edward turned to me.

"So do you like the right or the left?" Edward methodically began pulling down the covers on the bed. I blinked in his general direction before snapping out of my haze. This god wanted to sleep in the same bed…as me?

"Umm, do you mind taking the window side?" I could never sleep close to the window, even as a little girl…of course the knowledge that the undead wanted to crawl through the glass and eat me didn't help me get over this aversion.

"Yeah, no problem" He flashed me a breathtaking crooked smile before sitting on the side of the bed and removing his boots. I mimicked him; the triple knots on the boots took forever. Once I set the heavy things on the floor, I turned around intending to sleep on the furthest edge of the bed possible and avoid all potentially embarrassing situations.

However, when I turned around, Edward had not only removed his boots, but also his shirt, and pants. He was crawling onto the bed in only a dingy white wife beater and some blue and gray plaid boxers. Kill me now. I attempted to blink after I turned around, not wanting to be caught staring like a fool, but I couldn't seem to rip my eyes away from his perfection.

"Hey Bella, are you seriously going to sleep in all of that standard issue crap. Those buckles were killing me all morning." He nonchalantly lay down in the bed and began to situate himself. His bronze hair fanned out in a halo around his head and again I mentally chided myself for staring.

"Yeah I guess not it's kind of annoying." I nervously worked through the snaps and zippers on my first layer of protection. I don't see how he stripped so fast, it took me forever to remove all seven layers. I understood their worth however, if one of the zombies went for my chest or arms they definitely wouldn't be able to penetrate to the skin on the first try. The only vulnerable places were my neck and hands, as we figured out earlier today.

Once I had stripped myself of all of the rough layers of black fabric, I was left in a black tank top and some biker shorts, they were one of the last articles of clothing that I had purchased. My scatterbrained mother had become newly obsessed with road biking and wanted me to come down to Florida and try it with her. I remember the plane tickets were in my pocket when I heard the first screams.

I felt unimaginably naked as I climbed underneath the sheets. They were worn with age but surprisingly clean. I relished in the feeling of my bare toes rubbing against the cotton. For the last four years I'd slept in full dress, ready to run at any time. The biker shorts became essential they remained faithfully protecting despite the many hasty changes of clothes.

I lay nearly falling off of the bed while Edward seemed perfectly at ease, nearly naked in the bed with a complete stranger.

"Bella, you don't have to fall off the bed. If you're uncomfortable with this I'll take the floor. I've slept on much less pleasant things." His velvet voice barely disrupted the darkness.

"No I'm not uncomfortable…I've just been sleeping in the bunks at boot camp for the last six months. I'm comfortable on two feet of mattress" My lie sounded unconvincing to me. Emmett's snores could be heard drifting in from the adjoining room.

"Well scoot over. Relish in the king-sized ness." Edward seemed adamant about me being comfortable. I moved over a good foot and immediately felt the pleasant effects the mattress sagged beneath me in the most pleasant way. I felt like I was floating on a cloud. I let out a soft moan as I situated myself on my side. "Better huh" Edward chuckled from behind me. I couldn't lie. It was better.

"No kidding" Sleep came almost immediately after that. I vaguely remember something touching my back before I drifted off.

**Ok so no real gore or plot lurching excitement in that chapter…So some of you other awesome readers should review this time…And because of your overwhelming response for the first chapter (NOT)…I would really appreciate it if you would maybe give me some feedback. I felt like this chapter sucked. Edward was OOC and ugg I don't even know. So I would even love you if you flame me…seriously just tell me that I suck and that I should give up writing and never touch a computer again…I don't even care JUST PLEASE REVIEW!**

**For the love of Carlisle…REVIEW**

**If you love puppies…REVIEW**

**If you've clipped your toenails in the last week…REVIEW**

**If you don't find this at all funny and wish that I would stop begging for reviews tell me that! **


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Okay I seriously love you guys

**AN: Okay I seriously love you guys! This is the first time that the second chapter of my story has gotten more reviews than the first. You all rock and if you don't mind making me the happiest person alive then you all should try to beat three reviews. I know I'm not asking for much…I mean I've seen stories asking for like 100 reviews on a chapter. Of course those are written by the future bestselling authors of America and stuff but still I think if they deserve a hundred (which they do) then I can get four. And I'd like to again thank NatalieRB! She is now my personal bodyguard and if any of you flame me then she will beat you up…her words not mine!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own twilight…if I did there would definitely be more zombies. I mean not every undead person is cool enough to be a vampire.**

Chapter 3

This dream was better than any that I had had before. I was sleeping in an actual bed in a dark room, and I was not wearing any of the eight layers or so that I had worn for the last four years. Someone had their arms around my waist and whoever it was smelled like warm honey. I could feel their heartbeat underneath my ear and it matched my own.

However, I knew that all good dreams come to an end eventually. Light began to glow red through the shield of my eyelids. I groaned and dug my head deeper into my imaginary person, knowing that they would soon disappear. I rubbed my legs together, trying to memorize the feel of not wearing four layers of pants. The light changed from red to orange and I gave up, relinquishing my hold on dreamland.

Surprisingly when I opened my eyes, neither the delectable scent nor the arms around me disappeared. I found myself staring directly at the built chest that I realized after a moment of panic could belong to none other than Edward.

At my realization, I scrambled backwards away from him. Soon enough I found myself on the floor wrapped up in a pile of comforter. I attempted to free my arms from the mess of fabric, yet I was too tangled to move at all. Edward peeked over from the side of the bed, green eyes as wide as saucers.

"Bella, what happened?" His hair was sticking awkwardly away from his head in all directions and he had a frightened expression on his face. My gaze flickered to his arms for a second, realizing that they had been the supposed dream arms, and then back to his face.

"Umm…I woke up…and I guess I didn't remember going to sleep with you and then I freaked out and now I'm here?" I'm not quite sure why it came out as a question, and I'm also not sure why I'm staring at his chest right now and can't seem to look at his face.

"Well I guess that's reasonable, we should probably get up anyway. Do you know how long we have left until our shift?"

"Um, we got off at 10:00 and since there are twenty four hours between shifts and it's 10:00AM, we have twelve hours left." I was really thankful that there was such liberal time left in between shifts. When they first started the raiders there had been forty eight hour breaks but when there had gotten to be less teams, they had to shorten the break time so that there were at least four teams out at all times.

"So what do you want to do today? Emmett had been saying that he wants to hit the gym and then maybe we should pop back here around five and sleep a bit more? I do not want to get tired while driving. Heck, I don't want to be anything but wide awake outside of the city." Edward had flopped back onto the bed and I couldn't see him. I could only hear his velvety voice drifting through the air as I attempted to remove my arms from their constraints.

"Sounds good. I'm also really hungry; we didn't stop for food last night after our shift. My stomach growled again and I fought harder against the sheets, I really genuinely want to get up now.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too. I think that Alice and Jasper already are eating. They're early risers."

"Are Emmett and Rose still asleep?" I had given up my fight with the sheets at this point and lay helpless in my cloth prison.

"Yeah…I'll go and wake them up." And with that Edward emerged from the bed in all of his boxer-clad glory. The muscles in his back rippled and the thin wife beater hid nothing. I was suddenly embarrassed by my blatant ogling and I flushed red, even though he couldn't see me.

I patiently began to untwist the comforter that had restrained me and soon I was standing on the floor, shivering from the unaccustomed nakedness. I nearly ran over to my army bag to choose some clothes. They had given me a bag of choices which I only now took inventory of. These bags had been in our room when we had arrived so I'd never seen mine before.

It seemed that someone had already sorted out the sizes because all of the unisex clothes in one bag were a small and the others were a large. The only items that would indicate that this bag was for a female were the generic sports bra, also a small, and some in descript panties. The bag also contained some gray sweatpants, gray basketball type shorts, three dark green tee shirts, one hooded sweatshirt, and four pairs of socks. There were also three sheets of paper folded and tucked into the bag. One of them listed the protocol for the raiders laundry room, situated conveniently on the third floor of the hotel, one had a certificate to go and pick up non-uniform shoes, and the last one was an overly cheery message thanking me for my dedication to my country. I set down the pieces of paper and grabbed the underwear, sweatpants and a tee shirt, and began looking for a place to change.

What I didn't expect to find was the bathroom. I opened the white painted door and gasped at the beauty of it. I walked into the white tile room and set my piles of clothes on the counter. I crossed my fingers as I began to pull on the knob that should control the cold water. It rushed out of the faucet, completely clear. As delighted as I was I still had to check the hot water knob. I held my breath as I turned the plastic and couldn't contain my squeal of joy as steam floated out of the sink and began to fog the bathroom mirror. I put my hand under the scalding water and relished in the wonderful and unfamiliar feeling. I would check the shower later.

I changed rather quickly and threw my brown hair up into a quick ponytail with my last rubber band. The brown rubber was frayed and pulled on my hair but it was better than the annoying mahogany strands hanging in my face all of the time. I understood Alice for keeping hers cut off.

When I walked out of the bathroom, I noticed that Edward was dressed exactly the same as I was.

"Hey Bella, do you mind dropping by headquarters to get some shoes before we go to the cafeteria?"

"No problem." I reached for my uniform boots, to slide on over my crisp, new, white socks.

"I'm just going to go barefoot down there, no sense in carrying my boots once I get my shoes."

"Good idea" I put the boots back onto the small table and took off my socks, carefully folding them in my hand. "Are Emmett and Rose coming with us?"

"No but they said that they'd meet us at the gym around two. They're going to sleep a little more." I nodded and walked over to the door where Edward was standing. He opened it for me and we exited into the much cooler hallway. The walk was silent except for the occasional screams that filtered from outside of the city. The walls of the hotel were thin and did little to obstruct the sounds traveling. Every other light in the hallways was lit, I guess that they were trying to save our minimal energy, but it made the walk rather creepy.

We walked almost to the garage where we had been the night before, and soon got to the uniform depot. I entered ahead of Edward, and the tile floor made me increasingly aware of my bare feet.

"Excuse me. We're here to pick up shoes." The man behind the counter looked utterly bored, like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"Hand over your coupons and your sizes." I gave him my coupon first.

"Size seven and a half." Edward then handed over his piece of paper and told the man twelve. After a minute he came back with two pairs of tennis shoes. They both appeared to be running shoes of some kind, and were completely identical again, except for the fact that his were detailed in yellow and mine were decorated in turquoise blue. We sat down on a nearly broken bench right outside of the office and clothed our feet.

"Ready to go and get some breakfast?" Edward stood up first and took my hand, chivalrously helping me to my feet. My stomach answered for me, growling loudly enough for him to hear.

"Let's go" At this point, I realized that I was still holding onto his hand from when he helped me up and I quickly dropped it and began walking towards the exit without another glance towards him.

The cafeteria was across the street from the hotel. After we exited through the emergency door which was no longer activated, the electric fence that surrounded the city came into view. I always flinched from the sight of it, as it was constantly smoking with the remains of zombies that thought it was the way into the city. Thought is the wrong word they simply followed their senses of smell and walked through the fence regardless of the 20,000 volts. It smelled like rancid meat and I immediately started walking faster, put off my the moans and groans that erupted from the undead population as they threw themselves more eagerly against the fence at the sight of us. The whining sound of the electricity rushing through the wires ceased as we entered the foyer of the large building that served as food storage and a meal place.

The lunch line was similar to the one that had defined the lunch room at my middle school. Under normal circumstances, the food would be considered inedible but here it was what we had so I ate it happily. I couldn't remember the food that I had eaten before I came here and at this point I couldn't imagine anything that wasn't canned or didn't taste like rubber.

Edward and I got similar trays. We both heaped our plates with instant eggs, oatmeal, and glasses of powdered milk. The place was filled with others, all wearing uniforms similar to ours and we headed to an empty table in the corner.

After we both were seated Edward sprung a question on me that I had hoped for the last for years would never come up…

"So Bella what brings you to the apocalypse?"

**AN: Okay I don't feel like this is exactly my best work and it's just kind of a filler chapter…I felt really bad for not posting all week so I just wanted to give all of you rocking people something to read. Next chapter will get a little more personal and you'll learn about both Bella and Edward's pasts and all of that stuff. I'm almost done with the whole introduction part of this story and soon I'll get into the good stuff. I have it all outlined. So I have to go run a 5K now, review and wish me luck. I have to beat this really annoying girl on my cross country team…so today should be painful.**

**Review and I'll personally send you a twelve layer cake in every color of the rainbow to express my love and gratitude. Please tell me at least four of you wonderful readers like cake?**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**AN: Okay So I didn't get quite as many reviews as I wanted but I wanted to be able to post another chapter this weekend. I might even get another one written today. We'll see, I probably won't post it until at least Wednesday, or I get a vast amount of reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or zombies.**

Chapter 4

BPOV:

"_So Bella what brings you to the apocalypse?"_

I flinched at the question and immediately began wracking my brain for any way to get out of answering it. There was running into the bathroom, hitting myself in the head with the metal lunch tray, or feigning fainting. Once I realized that all of these plans were not only ludicrous but also easily combated, I decided to attempt to talk my way out of it.

"I'll tell my story if you tell yours." I expected him to be more sensitive about his probably much darker past.

"I'll tell, just you first" I stared at him in disbelief before sighing and leaning my forehead on my hands. I followed the fake wood grain on the table for a minute before looking back up into Edward's face.

"I was born in Seattle, and lived here with my two parents until I was seven. Then my mom and dad got divorced." I looked into his eyes, trying to decipher any emotion but all I saw was patience. "My mom, Renee, and I moved to Phoenix, and soon she met this guy and got remarried. She went through the whole lovey-dovey newly-wed phase and didn't want me around so she sent back to live with my father, Charlie, back in Seattle. I was ten. I lived here for another four years and then they attacked." Again, I searched for the emotion and saw only curiosity.

"When I first saw them I was walking out to the car with my dad. He was going to drive me to the airport to see Renee. She had a new obsession with road biking and we were going to go on a bike trip through the desert in Phoenix.

"My dad was Sheriff of the suburb that I lived in. Before he got in the car he noticed someone who looked drunk or something hobbling towards us. Being the good hearted cop that he was he immediately decided that it was his business whatever was wrong with this man. He walked over to the man and I saw him flash his badge.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when the stranger grabbed my father and latched onto his throat. My dad screamed and pushed the man down, but it didn't faze the drunk. The man grabbed my dad's ankle and bit into him again. I ran over there and kicked the stranger in the head. I kicked him so many times that his brain rushed out his ears. I knelt down beside my dad and started to shake him, trying to wake him up.

"His eyes opened alright but they were black, he had turned. He started snapping at me and I ran. I jumped into the car and clumsily drove towards downtown. I was going to the police headquarters. I crashed into a telephone 19 blocks away and had to run. I remember the screams coming at me from everywhere as I ran. Once I got to the building the deputy snapped at me too and finally I ran to the town hall.

"It was full of scared people. It seemed that there were many of these monsters attacking everywhere. I waited there until power went out. It felt like days. Sometimes someone who had been bitten would turn and be shot. Eventually the few doctors in the building figured out what was going on. They gathered all of the adults and used an emergency escape tunnel. For the next few days they fought all of the pests out of the inner city. They set up patrols and got the generators running. They set up the electric fence, and it kept the zombies out.

"A fence along the shore line started to be built but was never finished. The zombies never tried to cross it seemed that they were afraid of water. They authorities sorted us out into age classes. I went to an orphanage that had a kind of makeshift school that I attended. Until I turned eighteen and they sent me to boot camp. I learned to shoot and how things worked and here I am." I finished my story in an unemotional monotone. It was as if I was seeing it through someone else's eyes. All this time, I hadn't thought about the past, and I've only looked to the future, dreading the day that I run into my father's reanimated corpse.

"So you've been locked up in this hole for four years?" He asked with disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm one of the few original inhabitants."

"Well I guess that means that I have to tell you my story now too."

"That's what our deal entailed" He exhaled heavily through his mouth before diving into his story.

"You know my family was rich. I lived in a huge mansion just north of Chicago. My father was a banker and my mother came from money. I went to some snooty private school that I don't even remember the name of. That's where I met the others. We became fast friends. Emmett and Rosalie were 16, Alice and Jasper were 15 and I was fourteen, when it happened. We all were sophomores, I was advanced and Rose and Emmett were held back, not because they were dumb, just lazy. We were throwing a huge party while Emmett's parents were out of town.

"It was great; we were all being drunk, stupid, carefree teenagers when some girl screamed. I remember that she was the slut of our school and she was bleeding. She blacked out and everyone freaked out and called 911. Then after a few minutes she got back up and her eyes were all black and disturbing. We all thought she was high and started laughing. But then she attacked.

"The five of us ran out of there, we hopped into Emmett's jeep Rubicon and started driving. We made it from Chicago to Des Moines that first night.

"Des Moines was another strong hold, but not very advanced, it fell in about a week. We just kept moving west. Eventually we stayed in Vegas for a while. There was no government protection there but we managed to hold up in one of the hotels for a few months. Then the swarms got too thick and we headed out. We literally camped in the woods for a while. All around Colorado, the zombies are slower in the mountains, the lower oxygen levels mess with them I think. That was fun, we all learned to fight and occasionally we'd run into some small pack of people living in one of the tiny mountain towns. They're probably still there.

"Eventually we went to check out some bigger cities. We robbed a military base on the way and stocked up on weapons. Portland was pretty advanced and had a pretty big population. They let us in, and we went into a program kind of like the raiders here. But one of their guys got infected but didn't tell he changed and attacked the mayor and all hell broke loose. We got out of there and drove north, we were headed for Canada, but when we saw the lights we stopped in." I noticed that his voice had a similar monotone.

"Wow, that makes me seem pretty boring."

"I dunno, I kind of wish that I'd had somewhere to go. I mean without Emmett and his monster jeep I'd be nothing, just another undead in the swarm." He looked contemplatively at his untouched food.

"One question. Why didn't you go east? There are a lot more cities out there, for all we know New York could still communicate with Europe or something." I'd always wondered if other continents were affected by the plague. If it had originated in America then the way that we shut off all international communications could've saved the rest of the world.

"There's a bigger population in the East. If they're undead, then there would be a lot more of them in Philadelphia versus Denver."

"That makes sense. So what's the world like now?"

"I guess it's not that different than before…except less crowded and the people that are still there are trying to eat you." He gave me a crooked smile as he added the last part to his statement. I've never been prone to dramatics but when this god flashed his perfect teeth I nearly swooned.

"Do you think that you'll ever leave this city?" I was secretly going to beg him to let me come. The filth and shortages were claustrophobic and I needed to get away.

"Sure I will, it will fall, and if I'm lucky I'll get away." He said this in such a matter of fact manner that I almost didn't catch the important underlying statement.

"What do you mean that it will fall?" I was actually angered by this statement. "This city is strong and has held up for four years. The people here are smart and ready to fight." He gave me a sympathetic look like I didn't know my grandma was dead or something.

"Bella, they're learning"

**AN: Sorry for the shortness. I'll probably post more today. I was just writing this and I wrote that line and thought it was kind of a creepy cliffy…and I thought that I'd let you think that over for a little while. So you'll see chapter five later today. Please review. (And I mean someone else than the awesomeness that is NatalieRB, She's so cool that she reviews every chapter. Beat that!)**

**If you review, I will send you a puppy…no joke. **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. I am now sacrificing my chemistry education for this story because it is so darn amazing to get so many reviews from all of you. I love you all!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I wish I owned Carlisle.**

Chapter 5

BPOV:

"_Bella, they're learning"_

"What do you mean they're learning? They're mindless eating machines, all they do is limp, groan, and eat. Their brains are rotten piles of mush."

"Tell me, why do they hang out in grocery stores? They don't eat canned food. Why are they there."

"I don't know. They were probably just limping down the road and walked in there and they couldn't find the door again. They get trapped like flies that go through windows."

"How come they can find doors of other buildings just not grocery stores? The reason that they are there is because they know that people go there and they're waiting for us." Edward smacked his fist down to the table and my fork rattled against the aluminum of my lunch tray.

I opened my mouth to make some sort of reply but closed it when I actually thought about Edward's statement. It was true, the stories I'd heard of raiders breaking into houses never included zombies. They hung out in the grocery stores, it was the only thing that made sense.

"If they're learning how come they haven't tried to cross the water yet?" This time it was a real question, like I suddenly expected Edward to be a zombie specialist.

"I don't know. I've seen other ones cross water. It wasn't as deep of course" The Seattle harbor was about six hundred feet deep where the zombies would have to cross to get into the city. "But in Colorado they cross streams all of the time, and if you push one into deeper water, some strange instinct kicks in and they swim out. We really underestimate them. They really are just people in another manifestation. It's only a matter of time before they figure out how to kill the electric fence or cross the harbor."

A silence fell onto our corner table, and we both proceeded to eat our now cold breakfast. We brought our trays and dishes to the bins on the west side of the cafeteria and sorted out the abused ceramics into their respective piles to be washed.

"We should probably go and meet Emmett and Rose now. Where's the gym?" It was sad how familiar his voice was, considering that I'd only met him yesterday.

"Yeah, follow me." I didn't let on that I had never so much as entered the gym. I'd spent my entire boot camp time in the shooting range with my own personal jug of bebes. I was weak as a newborn chick when it came to lifting stuff, all my skill was in my aim.

We entered the training room and were confronted by Emmett lifting some absurd amount of weight and Rosalie staring at him with an uneasy expression, like her son was at the top of a really tall tree. Emmett did a few more reps and turned to look at us.

"Hey Eddie, Bella, what's up?" He got up off of the bench and proceeded adding more weight to the barbell.

"Don't call me Eddie, and we were just meeting you here like you said." Edward then walked to the bench press next to Emmett and started adding about a quarter as much weight as Emmett had. He then proceeded to lift said weight.

"No, I meant in the Cafeteria. You guys were getting pretty intense, we were going to come and sit with you but then Bella got all shaky and Edward, you were all red so we decided to come here instead." At that point I decided that I really liked Emmett.

"Yeah, we didn't want to interrupt." Rosalie said absentmindedly, she was too busy ogling Emmett's biceps as he lifted the immense barbell.

"It's all good" Edward somehow managed to grunt out between repetitions of benching what looked like more than what I weighed. On his own, the bulging muscles of his biceps would have been quite the spectacle, but Emmett downsized his greatness.

The boys worked out and I was thankful that Rosalie never approached the ominous barbells that littered the small room. At about three o'clock we decided to go leave the gym.

"So Bella, do you mind giving us a tour?" Emmett gestured towards the door of the room as he asked.

"Sure, then we'll go and sleep right?"

"Yeah, you must love that bed." Rosalie laughed and began to follow Emmett out of the gym.

"I love it." In all honesty, watching Edward work out for a few hours made me nothing more than eager to lie next to him again. I could only hope that I would be gutsy enough not to perch on the edge of the bed again.

"Bella, are they always so loud?" Sadly I was awakened from pleasant thoughts of Edward's back by Rosalie's inquiry.

"They get louder when they can see people. I mostly just hate the smell when they cook themselves." I could feel my stride lengthen as we walked away from the base and down the main street of downtown. It sloped downwards towards the ocean.

The asphault on the roads was crumbled and cracked, as was the mortar in most of the buildings that lined the street. The occasional woman ran between the buildings, shielding herself from the wind that was just rising from the ocean.

"This is seriously it?" Emmett had no tact in concealing his emotions.

"Yeah, it's a lot less than it used to be. There might be more people down at the port though." We walked towards the old pikes place market.

"This place must've been really cool in the old days." Rosalie's violet eyes looked nostalgically around the multitude of booths that lined the cement aisles.

"Yeah, my mom always used to drag me down here early on a Sunday morning. All the farmers from the countryside would bring in their crops and we would buy a bunch of fruits and vegetables and fish. She would always make a huge brunch that was never quite right. There would be broccoli with cheese sauce and apple cinnamon pancakes on the same table."

"So this was a farmer's market?" Edward asked as we all pulled to an automatic halt. There was a picture etched into the smooth cement. It was obviously a child's drawing, with misshapen stick figures and crude renderings of familiar family models. This particular example however, violated the core of morality and normalcy.

It depicted a small girl with her hair in an awkward side ponytail. She was holding the hands of both her parents. The creepiness, however, resided in the expressions and actions of the three stereotypical characters. Both of the parents had exes for their eyes and sharp teeth protruding from their mouth. There were small drops around the mouth that I took to represent blood. Both parents were latched onto the neck of the smaller drawing between them. The expression on the daughters face was the most peculiar, she was smiling.

Rosalie crushed herself to Emmett's side and sobbed quietly, almost politely. Emmett covered her shoulders with his massive arm and comforted her, kissing the top of her head gently. Edward and I merely stared at the blasphemy of child art.

"Should we look for Alice and Jasper?" Emmett broke the horrified silence after a few minutes.

"Yeah, let's go." I purposefully stepped right on the smile of the little girl on my way, smearing the white lines beyond recognition. "They're probably at the pier. That's the center of the city and where everything happens during the day."

"So by everything you mean a cross between a homeless shelter and a cheap game room?" Edward said with a hint of sarcastic humor. We all cracked a lifeless smile, attempting to play the situation off as even partially normal. Rosalie had dried her eyes by now and her reddened cheeks were the only sign of her recent crying jag.

I noticed for the first time how marvelously beautiful Rosalie was, even under the unreasonable conditions. I felt a pang of jealousy that was quickly doused by indifference. I didn't need to be pretty; all I needed to do was collect enough food to keep the people of the city alive for one more day. I tried not to look more than a few hours in the future. Like Edward said, it was only a matter of time before they took down the fence.

"This place is hoppin'," Emmett announced with a childlike shimmer as we entered the overgrown arcade that was the town hall.

"Yeah, there are actually people here." The four pool tables were surrounded by various people dressed similarly to us while children crowded around the pinball machine where a boy of about twelve seemed to be about to shatter a ridiculously high record.

"Can we get something to drink" Rosalie's voice was slightly hoarse. I nodded and led her to the small bar at the corner of the room. The man behind the counter handed us two bottles of Aquafina and reminded us not to drink the tap water. Rosalie seemed shocked by this warning but I brushed it off, having heard it three times a day for the last four years.

"What's wrong with the tap water?" Rosalie looked down at me. She towered over my average five four, I'd say that she was at least five nine.

"Well it flows from the continental divide in Colorado. You've been there, and see what goes in it."

"Is it possible to get infected like that?" It took me a minute to understand what she was asking. I'd stopped calling it an infection years ago, and acknowledged it as a bloody death.

"I don't know and I certainly don't want to test it out." She still appeared shaken from I suppose the disturbing piece of sidewalk art. I felt like my knees were trembling from the emotions that that little doodle caused, but I hoped that I was hiding it better than Rosalie. Anyone could see that I was the weak link in our little squadron and I didn't want to duck out now.

When we got back to Edward and Emmett Alice and Jasper had joined them. Alice was gesturing wildly with her hands and tugging indignantly on the waistband of her sweatpants. Once she let them go, they nearly fell and she quickly regrasped them, and pulled them up as high as they would go.

"They are just flipping huge. I don't get why they would give me huge man clothes!" Jasper was failing at his effort not to laugh.

"Alice I'm sure that we can ask for some new ones." Edward's straight face was slightly more convincing but a smile cracked through occasionally, as Alice fidgeted with her huge man clothes.

"We're going to some department store tonight…" She pointed her finger ominously at Edward before turning to Jasper and rising on her tip toes to whisper something in his ear.

"So I'm guessing that you ladies heard that." Emmett wrapped his arm around Rosalie. It seemed automatic and I felt the pang of jealousy briefly, wishing that I had a strong arm shielding me from the world, and also knowing that it would never happen.

"Yeah, these clothes suck. I'd be up for a personal raid." Rosalie pushed her head into Emmett's broad shoulder as she announced her agreement with Alice.

"Are you guys ready to head back yet?" Alice literally stuck her head back into our conversation, all the while holding her sweatpants up by the waist.

We all nodded and I showed them all the way back. We had to walk along the border, and witness all of the suicidal undead at the electric fence but anything would have been better than walking back by that dreadful picture.

Once back at the base we climbed the stairs and separated to our beds. Edward and I just climbed in what we were wearing, as it was comfortable enough to permit sleeping. I wasn't chicken enough that I perched on the end of the bed, and my bravery was rewarded by Edward's proximity.

Rest did not claim me as quickly as it overcame Edward. I could understand as I didn't lift a finger in my few hours awake, let alone multiple weights. I spent my wakeful minutes gazing on his peaceful features in the faint glow that penetrated the padding around the windows.

He wore a peaceful expression as slept, his jaw slack and mouth slightly open. I don't know how long it was before his reddish toned eyebrows pulled together and he rolled to his side, patting the bed until he found my waist. His sleeping form wrapped around me and he let out a sigh.

With his presence as my lullaby, I soon drifted into dreams so real that I could feel Charlie's hand in mine.

**AN: So I don't really like the ending but I'm honestly too tired to worry about it right now. I'm going to consistently update this story at least twice a week. I'll try to do one chapter during the weekend and crank out one during the week. I love you all and I'll love you even more if you review. I'm going to bed right after I post this.**

**PS. If the ending is as awful as I feel like it is tell me and I'll attempt to fix it. **

**I ran five miles today so review to make my sore feet feel better.**


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Okay so I feel really stupid…I give you that whole schpeel about twice a week updates and then disappear for like close to ever

**AN: Okay so I feel really stupid…I give you that whole schpeel about twice a week updates and then disappear for like close to ever. This chapter was originally going to be longer but I thought that I'd rather update sooner with less than later. I'll try to get the rest up tonight. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight…Nuff Said. **

Chapter 6

The sheeting rain pelted the metal roof of the armored vehicle, and for once drowned out the constant moans that filled the air. Once again, I sat at the station closest to the driver, only tonight it was not so awkward. There was a certain level of comfort and familiarity in the small space.

Alice and Rosalie were looking at a map, trying to find a mall close to the store that we were assigned to raid, while Emmett and Jasper were playing some bizarre game that involved nicknaming zombies that approached, and then shooting them in the face. When an undead man with the appearance of a professional wrestler was pronounced Betty, even concentrated Edward cracked a smile.

Driving through the deserted suburbs proved to be quite a challenge, and took all of Edward's concentration. The occasional car door would fly open and the undead inhabitant would take it upon himself to stalk after our tank. It then became mine or the nickname brigade's job to dispose of the followers.

Most of the zombies traveled alone but occasionally we would come across a group of four or five, that were in most cases gnawing on one another.

The rain rid the monsters of their human like exterior, and revealed the signs of rotting that the caked blood managed to hide. Their grayish green skin was pulled taut across their faces but sagged under their jaws. Their entire appearance was rotten and there were occasionally holes word in their skin that resembled an overused rubber band. Pieces of bleached bone and dry muscle peeked from within these crevices, revealing that the sagging piles of skin were once people. Their black eyes sat in sunken wells in their skulls, and their chipped teeth were rotten and yellowish gray. Shooting them tonight was truly a game, and the accustomed guilt did not pool in the pit of my stomach when their dehydrated brains flew from the back of their skulls and smattered the road.

"Ok there's a mall with like 4 department stores like a mile North of the Supermarket. Where to first?" Alice addressed all of us as she showed the map to Edward. He stole occasional glances at it while attempting to maneuver through what looked to be an abandoned traffic jam.

"So to the mall or the store first." Emmett shot down the recently dubbed Wayne, who was the definition of soccer mom.

"I'm all for getting this store crap over with…I wonder if the arcade's are still working at the mall." Jasper mused, and used the aiming mechanism of his gatling to mimic car driving motions.

"Okay…so store first?" Edward didn't wait for an answer to his question as he flipped an unexpected right, crunching multiple zombies on the way. The water in the gutter ran red.

The store was relatively close and it only took us a couple of minutes to get there. The parking lot was full of cars, not a good sign. That meant that the store had been full of people when the horror was released. The other's seemed to recognize this bad omen, and the chatter stopped as we all loaded our weapons.

Edward pulled up right next to the front window of the store, and we all gathered our wits and prepared to head into the death trap. The rain that had once sheeted down around us had slowed to only a slight drizzle. The moans and grunts that filled the store could be heard from outside.

We filed out of the truck, and I fought for my composure as Emmett smashed through the front window. Two bloody and bony arms reached through the gap, smearing blood and discarded rotten skin all over the broken glass. Emmett's shot echoed through the metal building.

He cleared away the rest of the glass that was clinging to the doorframe and we all walked inside.

The store reeked more strongly than the other one had, not only were all of the foodstuffs rotting but the people who had once shopped here added their own distinctive aroma. The inside of the store looked like a well decorated haunted house, with limbs and blood smeared everywhere.

I gagged at a spread of intestines being ingested by a crouching zombie by the customer service desk.

This small display matched the entire interior of the store, which was filled with limping undead and groaning appetites. Shopping baskets contained writhing people, missing too many limbs to maneuver themselves out.

The walls and shelves were smeared with blood, both wet and dry. I felt woozy at the outward and blatant spread of gore, and leaned against whoever was unlucky enough to be behind me before I heaved myself back to my feet, and listened to Edward.

"This place is infested. Groups of three." Alice and Jasper went to stand by Edward and they headed off towards where I suspected the canned foods were. I gasped as a woman reached out for them but Jasper stabbed her with a machete like knife before they were truly in danger.

"Let's go." I turned my attention back to Emmett who had taken charge of our small group. Rosalie followed as she simultaneously unfolded a huge burlap sac. We walked towards the aisle that had breakfast marked above it in blood stained letters.

We all headed straight for the grape nuts, and began shoving all of the unopened boxes into the huge bag. The cereal had an extremely low sugar content and therefore was usually not targeted by the molds that grew liberally in the store. We also grabbed all of the not flavored cheerios, they sometimes escaped rotting.

Apparently the community that this store provided for was not one of those health food obsessed places, so with all of the healthy cereals, our bag was almost full. We filled the remainder with bags of coffee and tea and turned to leave the aisle towards the front of the store.

We reeled backwards at the six or seven zombies that were limping into the aisle from that direction. Behind them there were at least a dozen more of the pests pushing to enter the smaller space.

I turned around intent on heading out from the other side and just walking to the front of the store. A similar scene greeted me, with a disturbing zombie baby leading the charge from the ground. As I stared at the infantile demon, I heard a shot that was accompanied by the creepy baby's brains spilling from the back of its rotten skull.

Emmett and Rosalie were both backed up to the cereal shelf and aiming. I followed their lead and began picking off the attackers, but eventually I ran out of bullets. I quickly reloaded but by the time I did the zombies were close enough to reach out with their bloody hands and touch me.

The shots came more quickly now and I had trouble only shooting each one once. I wanted to drill the horrible creatures with so many bullets that their riddled bodies would not even be eaten by their undead comrades.

The bodies were beginning to pile around our small circle and I started to wonder how many fricking zombies could be in this stupid store. Shots could be heard coming from the other side of the store and I assumed that Edward, Jasper, and Alice were having similar problems.

The blood was thick enough on the floor now that the clumsy attackers were tripping and going for my feet, I turned the tip of my gun downwards and shot them.

"You guys okay?" Emmett asked, as he shot one last squirming mass of rotten flesh. Sometimes the zombies would be so eaten and mangled that you couldn't even tell where their head was, and they became nearly impossible to kill.

I gave myself a quick once over, and luckily saw no bleeding bites. The store was considerably quieter now without most of its undead population.

"Let's get out of this hell hole." Emmett suggested before proceeding to lead us towards the front of the store.

Edward was standing there, looking around anxiously. He met Emmett's gaze and saw the full bag of food, and calmed down, letting us pass through the broken window before him.

Jasper and Alice were already inside of the truck, counting the cans that they had harvested. There were a lot more cans than we had on the first raid. It seemed that no one was sent to this store, probably because of the obvious state of it.

Emmett triple checked the locks on the doors before putting our stash along with the cans that the other group had harvested.

"You guys still want to hit the mall?" Edward was starting the monstrous armored vehicle and pulling away from the hell hole of a store.

"Yeah…mall time!" Alice jumped on the chance to assert her apparent love of malls.

**AN: I feel really bad about making everyone wait, but I hope this was just a little bit better than the last chapter. I'll put the whole mall adventure up as soon as I finish it. **

**Love you all…Review PLEASE. Pouts in your general direction. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Soooooo, I'm back from my…year long hiatus. I feel stupid Iabandoned this gem, of a story which blends the best of both worlds. Guts and Romance. When I say once a week I mean once a week, which is how often I will update this. I'm back and I hope that not every one has given up on me.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned either Twilight or zombies…but sadly I don't.**

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The mile drive to the mall seemed unreasonably long, as the moans began to pour through the dwindling rainfall. I decided that I officially hated zombies. Four years might seem a long time to come to this seemingly obvious conclusion but the hatred had finally overcome the pity. Seeing these creatures, these horrid flesh-eating monsters, destroy everything, their own kind, in person was much different than shooting them through an electric fence for target practice.

I remembered a book that they'd made us read, back when I'd been in school. The only books that had survived the library burning down, had been the section on American presidents. There was one book that spoke of Eisenhower's confrontation with Joe McCarthy. It was called "Have you no sense of decency?" I'll answer that question with another question. Did McCarthy eat his wife and children?

Hell, maybe he did, the book was missing the last chapter so I don't know if he'd died before all this shit hit the fan. I had to stop thinking about senators' deaths when someone started snapping their fingers in front of my nose.

"Earth to Bella. Bella, Bella, Bella." Emmett was waving his ham-hock hand at me while snapping. I looked up at his face, blinking, as it seemed I'd neglected to do so for a while. "We're going shopping now." If I hadn't just dispatched dozens of humanoid monsters, I would've laughed. When a six foot five muscle-head says shopping you've just got to laugh.

I didn't really feel all that much like vocalizing so I nodded and stuffed four more boxes of shells in my pockets. I didn't really need anything so I figured that I'd be the well armed one in this situation.

We filed out of the tank and looked out at the parking lot. There were maybe 20 shadowy figures limping towards us across the asphalt. Rosalie and I picked them off while Emmett threw a trashcan through a window to allow us a point of entry. I filed in after Edward.

I could tell that I wasn't actually too traumatized by the whole grocery store experience because I managed to blush when I caught myself staring at Edward's butt. I'm not sure if it really counts because his pants are so thick they kind of obscure the shape of it, but I take it as a good sign of mental health that I'm not too depressed to ogle him. Yay?

Once inside the mall we group and discuss what we're looking for. Jasper and Emmett are all about hunting down the arcade, and Edward offers to go with them. "You guys will be too enraptured shooting gangsters to shoot something actually threatening." He complains as their figures retreat into the dark mall. Someone pulls out a flashlight and I can see the light fighting to disperse past the dust that hung thickly in the air. I turn back to Rosalie and Alice. They seem excited by the prospect of clothes that don't itch and I don't really bother trying to jump into the conversation. Chatter is nice, I've missed chatter.

Unlike the supermarket, the mall is surprisingly empty and we make our way to the Nike outlet store unimpeded. I almost question why we're here before Alice begins explaining as if she's read my mind.

"Well first we need active wear because of course we need to be comfortable working out and during raids, then we need underwear that wasn't made for men, and finally we need pajamas that won't make us look like hobos who robbed an army surplus store." I smile, it's been too long since I actually got to choose what I wear and how it fits. Maybe I do need some stuff, no sense in risking my life if I don't get any benefits (well besides eating…).

"Oh, and I want jeans." Rosalie says definitively. "Jeans are a basic human right." Alice nods. I could go for some jeans as well, or any clothes that haven't been worn by someone who's now dead, as my current clothes most definitely have been.

"And you Bella, anything you want?" Alice asks and I'm shocked by the frankness in her tone. She's not just asking me because she needs to act like she cares, she's asking me because she does care. This group's acceptance of me is so strange and complete that I almost cry but then I realize that would be rather stupid so I don't let myself.

"Clothes that no one has worn before." I say.

"Amen to that." Rosalie agrees and we embark on our journey into the great masses of athletic clothes before us. It's truly a good haul. We only encounter 4 zombies as we grab what we want, and none of them even turn to see us before I blow their brains out. Alice commends me on being a good shot and I swell with warmth. I'm starting to feel like I might actually come to fit in with these exceptional survivors.

We make out with two large shopping bags of clothes each, even underwear from Victoria's Secret. I cracked Alice and Rosalie up because I refused to put my uniform underwear back on, I'd been shoved into the orphanage before puberty had really done its job and I'd never experienced the wonder of truly supportive underclothes. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

The boys are in the car eating Twinkies and waiting when we get back. Emmett throws one at my head and after hitting my face it drops down into one of my bags.

"Two Points" he yells and Jasper groans seemingly in defeat before we all pile into the car and head back to the city center.

The drive is much faster, and the bizarre naming zombies inappropriate names and then obliterating them game continues. I'm really laughing now, as Jasper yells "you're going down Maurice" before blowing the head off of an obese ghoul who is wearing an 'I heart meese' tee-shirt.

I catch myself looking at Edward twice. Both times I look away. I don't need a crush, I don't want a crush, I don't need heartbreak, but somehow as I stare at Edward's twinkling green eyes and absurdly attractive grin, I find myself thinking that it might be worth it.

When we get back to the gates, and finally get past the writhing horde of undead that surround them, Rosalie distracts the sergeant while Alice and I run the contraband loot up to the barracks and the boys unload the foodstuffs. While we're running back down to the depot to help with the last of the canned goods someone calls out to us.

"Hey, is it true that you just hit up 21st and Bankroft?" I turn and see six oddly identical people, obviously raiders, standing together arms crossed. There's only one girl among them and she's staring at me through narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, what of it?" Alice answers, hands on her hips. So much sass in such a little person.

"Three different teams have died in that place, man," says a younger uniformed man, standing behind the man that addressed us. I turn to look at him, his serious expression seems out of place on his face. It's like his features were meant to be smiling.

"Well, we didn't" I say kind of shyly. Raiders have always kind of intimidated me, and after only two trips outside, it hasn't completely sunk in that I belong with them now.

"Awesome." The younger person steps forward and I notice how tall the whole group must be, because he wasn't the tallest one but he must be at least a foot taller than me. "I'm Jacob, How come I've never seen you around?"

"We're new here." Alice answers, even though the question was clearly addressed to me. I don't really mind, I kind of want to leave this conversation. The girl is still staring at me and I don't like it. "And if you wouldn't mind, we have to go catch up with the rest of our group." That girl must be a mind reader or something.

Jacob waves and I raise my hand in acknowledgement, before turning and jogging a few steps to catch up with Alice.

It turns out our assistance isn't needed, when we get back to the loading platform, the remainder of our group is standing by the wall waiting for us. Alice runs over to Jasper and hugs him and I go to stand semi-awkwardly beside Edward.

It's amazing how just thinking the word "crush" while referring to someone can make the situation awkward for you, even if your thoughts were "I don't want a crush". The six of us walked back up to the room, I'm truly dragging now, and my lack of sleep going into tonight is really catching up with me. If I'd been alone I'm not really sure that I would've found the right room before I laid down in the hallway.

Tonight there are no group discussions as we go to bed. It's comfortably silent and there seems to be some sort of unspoken agreement as Edward goes to take a shower and Alice waits patiently in a chair outside the bathroom door. I probably would have taken time to think about Edward naked, or how nice it was to have new pajama pants, except I was asleep under the covers before I even knew where I'd set my gun.

Truly, I don't really remember waking up. I just know that I was in a warm shower. A warm shower. I hadn't had any sort of warm water in 4 years, let alone a warm shower. Civilian showers involved hoses of seawater and a twice a week hair cleaning in the kitchen sink. That shower was so lovely that I had to admit out loud to myself, "If I die tonight it was all worth it for this moment." There was even real shampoo, ahhh the luxury.

It felt like the nearly scalding water massaged my shoulders for hours but it was probably actually closer to fifteen minutes when I ran out of stuff to clean and I stepped out. I towel dried myself and did a stupid little happy dance as I pulled on my new awesomely supportive and comfortable underwear. I put on a soft gray cotton tee-shirt and jeans, because I could. I spent the time to comb out my unimaginably clean hair before I braided it back and secured it with a brand new hair tie, life is good.

I nearly skipped out into the bedroom and put on my tennis shoes, we hadn't bothered to get new shoes because we wanted to be able to carry more clothes, but maybe next time. I'd just had a shower, the possibilities were endless.

I was dancing to grab a new hoodie when I heard a bemused chuckle. "Someone's happy today." I stopped dead in my tracks. I'd been so happy about being clean that I'd forgotten that there was a very attractive man in this room. I could feel all of the blood rushing from my brain to my cheeks.

"I haven't had a shower in four years." I admit by means of explanation, Edward's smiling, seemingly enjoying the awkward situation. I'd kind of want to run away if that didn't mean that I wouldn't see him anymore.

It seemed that after Edward's shower the night before, he'd decided that giving me a heart attack was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. He'd neglected to put on a shirt, and he was ripped and muscley in all of the right places. I kind of had to fight to keep my eyes on his face…but then again, that wasn't so bad to look at either.

"I completely understand," He says and it takes me a minute to actually understand the meaning of the words he is speaking. My brain seems infinitely more sluggish than normal. Luckily my stomach breaks the silence with a thunderous rumble.

"Do you want to go get food?" I ask, catching myself when I almost ask his abs instead of his face. He smiles and nods before climbing out of bed and pulling on a tee-shirt. It's one of the standard issue olive green ones, the boys hadn't cared about getting clothes. He'd worn his shorts to bed and now he pulled his sweats on over them and slipped on his shoes. The other four were still asleep when we left.

It's technically dinner time, because we'd come back in around 6 am and slept roughly twelve hours, so there's fried spam and altogether too many beans, but it's protein and I eat probably more than I should because my entire gut feels empty, I've never worked so physically, even boot camp was nothing compared to the past few days. Edward seems to be starving as well. It's silent as we both scarf down seconds. I go and get a bag of powdered milk and eat it with a spoon after dinner. Edward eventually joins me and we sit there with the bag between us.

"You know if someone had asked me a week ago if I'd be sitting here eating powdered milk straight out of the bag I would have told them they were crazy." He punctuates this sentence by spooning more of the off-white powder into his mouth.

"Good huh?" I affirm, licking the back of my spoon, where the powder has become pasty and sweet. I finally set the spoon down, feeling sated and happy. Edward sets his own spoon down and stares at me for a second before reaching across the table and rubbing his thumb against the corner of my mouth. I'm shocked by the electricity in his touch. He then licks the powdered milk residue off of his thumb.

It's a flirtation that I'd seen in countless romantic comedies during my preteen years, and honestly I'd never understood the allure of it until now. My entire body felt warm and fuzzy.

Neither of us comment, but the inside of my head is spinning like a top. I've never really had a crush, and now I'm taking the time to decide if I do now. I remember Edward's laughter the night before and how I'd thought that heartbreak might be worth it. This is the moment when I decide I was right. I think that slowly but surely, I might be falling for Edward.

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**Up to snuff?**

**I hope so. This chapter is really more of a character study…getting back in touch with the characters. The next chapter will be bloodier, I have midterms so I'm likely to have a lot of anger to take out on unsuspecting zombies. **

**Please review, tell me what you think, I'd love to hear your opinions, and I take constructive criticism very seriously, so if there's something I can improve tell me**


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